Fairness - The Commentary

The election returns are in. There are many ways to look back at them as we look forward to a new Congress characterized by even more Republican bullying. For many of us, the country took a step backward. It looks like a real mess, at least in the short-run. But there are clues for the long-term. Future success is possible for those of us who find the Tea Party and the old Republican solutions regressive, stale, and destructive. The Democratic loss was affected by turnout. And the age of those who turned out speaks volumes about long-term issues. In the 2008 presidential election, 18-to-29-year-olds made up 18% of the electorate while those 65 and over made up 16%. Young people actually outvoted those 65 and over in 2008, and that 18-29 age group was the only one where white voters preferred Obama. This year, the 18-29 year-old vote was down to 11% of the electorate and seniors were up to 23%. Exit polls indicate that the 18-29 demographic was the only age group won by Demo

Back in November 2008 we saw the perfect storm for the religiously addicted whom I described in  When Religion Is an Addiction . Their “Christian” president who was dealing their high of being right was ending his eight-year term. He hadn’t dealt the ultimate fix they’d needed. The economic and military conservatives who took advantage of these needy religious conservatives had no interest in doing any more than using them to further their corporate take-over of America. Yet, the 20% of Americans who make up the addicted could not dump their dealer. Even at the lowest in Bush’s approval, that number always kept believing, no matter what he really dealt them. The 2008 elections were their hope for a stronger fix. Then the Republicans nominated John McCain – far from the religious right-wing’s champion. In January 2007, fundamentalist kingpin James Dobson said: "Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for  John McCain  under any circumstances." &quo